Macaroons Recipes

During my pregnancy, the girls would pick a basketful of the ripest mulberries from the tree in our garden and bring me a bowl filled with the delicious fruit. So I always tell baby Aria that in a way, she's made of mulberries! In fact, you really can never go wrong with mulberries. If you’ve never had them before, they have a wonderfully complex, sweet and tart flavor with hints of pepper when fully ripe. The intense flavor is almost indescribable. When they get really ripe, the juice thickens to a syrup-like consistency so harvesting them can get very messy and stain your hands and clothes.

I recently was able to find the prized fruits at a local Farmers' Market in Palo Alto. So rush there, whilen there's still time to enjoy the wonderful, summery, seasonal fruit. If not, you can make substitutions depending on what ingredients (such as blueberries) you have available.

Are you still looking for the perfect dessert to serve this holiday season? This dessert contains all the three elements I would usually enjoy as a child during the Christmas season in France: citrus, coconut and chocolate. And how did I accomplish such a feat? By creating a kumquat macaroon parfait, of course!

To make the dessert Christmas-themed, I made two colored chocolate puddings. One was prepared with white chocolate powder and green-colored chocolate chips and the other with strawberry powdered drink mix and red chocolate chips. The base and top of the dessert were made with macaroons.

Pavlova is an easy dessert that consists of a meringue base coated with whipped cream and topped with fresh fruit. I used what's in season and flavored the dessert with freshly-picked black mulberries from our garden and garnished it with black Corinth grapes. For a nice contrast in color and flavor, I decorated it with crushed pistachios and toasted coconut flakes.

You can prepare the meringue way in advance and assemble the dessert at the last minute. I prepared the base in the morning and later in the day, I sent the girls to get messy and pick the gorgeous mulberries. Once they were slightly crushed, a delightful, naturally slightly thick syrup oozed out. With just a little assembly, the dessert was ready to be served right away.

My second cookbook, Banh Mi, is officially out! You can find it on Amazon or in any Barnes and Noble store. Thanks so much for your support!

This week has gone by so fast, I can't believe it's already Dessert Friday! To celebrate the end of school (and finals) and to reward the girls for their hard work, I decided to bake a pie.

The girls love coconut macaroons, so I decided to prepare a coconut macaroon pie. I made the filling with sweetened shredded coconut flakes and sweetened condensed milk. I served the pie with coconut flavored whipped cream, but I think coconut ice cream would have been even better!

As I mentioned yesterday, the girls are planning to prepare a scrumptious meal for Mother's Day. My mother-in-law has a sweet tooth, so we decided to surprise her with a homemade strawberry cheesecake. Well, it will be a surprise as long as she doesn’t read this!

This is not your average cheesecake. The crust is made with macaroons and the filling is flavored with both coconut extract and fresh strawberries. My cousin Tri just brought a giant case of strawberries he hand-picked himself with his wife at a “you pick’em” farm in Brentwood. The strawberries were rich in color and flavor. If the strawberries you have aren't very flavorful, you could add a few teaspoons of strawberry extract to reinforce the flavor. We taste-tested the cheesecakes this afternoon and it was a big thumbs-up. Even my little sis-in-law who's allergic to egg yolks could have some, which was quite a treat for her.

In addition to the heart-shaped cheesecake, the girls had the idea to finish the decoration by cutting the fresh strawberry halves into a heart. Isn’t it adorable?